Heartbeat

I: Sacrifice-1

I: Sacrifice

“Come on, Akshara. We’re going to be late and if you continue to stand there staring at me, I’m going to have to drag you along before Sarkasi notices we’re not ready for the ritual,” said Iva, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head at Akshara.

“I don’t want to go to the ritual,” Akshara whispered.

She knelt down, picked an Aransian sunflower, and blew the bright yellow petals right off, scattering them to the wind. The Aransian sunflower grows in the desert sand and is quite rare. To blow the petals off is a form of prayer and is thought to be good luck. Akshara thought she could use all the good luck she could get in that moment.

“This is the renewal of the world, and you know it must be done. The girl with a golden heart is coming soon too, and she needs us,” Iva said.

Akshara sat down in the sand, picking up a fistful, and watching it fall from her hand over and over again. She knew if they went back to the temple, she would be separated from Iva forever. Iva had been chosen by the gods for a special task—one that would result in her death.

“You don’t even care that you’re leaving me here, do you?” Akshara asked in her softest voice.

Iva sat down beside her and slid her arm beneath Akshara’s long black hair with several silver streaks throughout. She was only 8, but already had the hair of an elder.

“You’ll be just fine without me. I’m just going to the goddess a little earlier than I had planned. My blood is needed, and you know there’s nothing I can do about it. But you’ll be there holding my hand as the knife falls, yes? And then you can feast in my honor and dance all night with Heko. I know you want to...”

“Heko is an i***t. I want to dance with you.”

Akshara turned toward her friend and took a good look at her. Iva’s short dark hair framed her golden-brown face, and her green eyes seemed to belong to the goddess herself. That’s what Akshara had always thought anyway. Iva’s face was the sweetest that she had ever seen in her short life. And she knew that if Iva were allowed to grow into a woman, she would be the most beautiful in all Aransia.

“You can’t dance with me at the feast, Aksha. But I promise you I’ll find a way to watch you from the abyss. I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life, you miserable girl!”

Iva pelted Akshara’s cheeks with endless kisses and Akshara couldn’t help but laugh. She wanted to tell Iva that she loved her, but she had never been able to do it. Every time she tried, the words would climb up her throat, and hang on the roof of her mouth—just ready to burst out, but not quite. She’d end up coughing instead and pretending as if the dust in the Aransian air was getting into her lungs. But now would be her last chance to do it. If she couldn’t now, then she’d go to her own death not knowing whether Iva had taken her last breath, closed her eyes, and felt loved more than they had been taught to love the goddess.

Iva’s kisses ended, and Akshara’s cheek instantly felt cold. She knew that from now on, she would always be alone, no matter who she met. And she would always despise the girl with the golden heart for being born in their lifetime and taking her friend away from her.

“We’d better go before Sarkasi comes out here and drags us back to the temple,” Akshara said. It’s not what she wanted to say, of course. For she felt the familiar stirring in her throat of the words she could never seem to find.

Iva hopped up and pulled Akshara up with her. She took Akshara’s hand, and the two girls turned back towards the city of Aransia with its thousands of small dwellings made of mud and red stone, all with the same thatched roof. The defining characteristic of the city was the massive pyramid with golden steps leading up to the flat top where the girls would soon be, looking out over the city as the people prayed for Tars’keli’s blessing and a safe birth for the girl with the golden heart.

Iva ran forward, and Akshara nearly fell to the ground and was dragged along by her friend. But as soon as Iva noticed her struggle to keep up, she slowed down and they walked hand in hand into the city as the sun began to fade behind them.

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